No one has use the word escalation, but if we look carefully at the actions of the west, Ukraine, and Russia, we can see that the war has slowly been escalating, but nobody wishes to state that or admit to it. Instead, we hear the words ‘dirty bomb’ being used as propaganda by Russia, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been under threat for months, Russia stages a nuclear drill, and Ukrainian refugees have been told not to return to Ukraine until spring 2023, at the earliest as the infrastructure has been damaged by the Iranian drones and there will be insufficient heat and energy supplies for all the citizens.
At this point, I'm not optimistic about a peace deal and/or a halt in the hostilities while Putin is still breathing.